Search: crossing lines
12 Sep From Apology to Bazinga!: International Legal Rhetoric in Obama’s Speech and Putin’s Op-Ed
...the language of international law is used by both leaders. Putin’s argument plays on American fears and worries but it is framed in the rhetoric of international law. There are some scare lines, such as: “A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism.” There is a description of a “reeling” Afghanistan where “no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw.” And, he adds, don’t forget the divisions in Iraq and Libya. It is not in “America’s long-term interest” to have U.S. military intervention...10 Apr LJIL Symposium: Where to Find the Liberal Principles of Criminal Law
...some observers that these deeper principles of criminal law are so embedded in domestic criminal law that domestic systems get them right, while the international law system runs the risk of ignoring them. True, I might have said something along these lines in Reclaiming Fundamental Principles of Criminal Law in the Darfur Case, co-authored with George Fletcher back in 2005. However, one should not overstate the point. We are talking about deeper principles of criminal law – principles that ought to be deep and abstract enough to apply across all...
10 Oct Rethinking International Law After Gaza Symposium: A Thought Experiment – What if we Tried to Organise the “Rethinking International Law after Gaza” Conference in the UK?
...and it is worth mentioning at the outset that it would have been very difficult to organise events in Turkish universities on certain ‘sensitive’ political issues. And yet, it is still worth asking what would happen if we tried to organise a two-day conference on the Question of Palestine in the UK, along the lines of the conference at Boğaziçi University, which addressed various topics including the occupation, resistance, apartheid, zionism, and the right of return. What institutional obstacles might arise, and could such an event even take place? In...
18 Sep UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran: U.S. War Crimes and Precautions in AI-Enabled Warfare
[Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law and Managing Editor of Opinio Juris.] The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFMI) released its 18-page report to the Human Rights Council on 17 September 2026. In the report, among other findings, the Mission outlines reasonable grounds to believe that the United States was responsible for two attacks on 28 February 2026: a strike on an elementary school in Minab, which killed at least 157 people including 120 children...
14 Aug Promoting Cultural Heritage to Strengthen Syrian National Identity and Overcome Ethnic and Religious Fragmentation
...hatreds. Although the Ba’athist regime under Hafez and Bashar al-Assad presented itself as a guardian of minority rights, its consolidation of power was rooted in sectarian patronage, most notably through the advancement of the Alawite minority within Syria’s military and intelligence institutions. This approach sowed long-term mistrust and division, fracturing national identity along ethnic and religious lines. The last 13 years of revolution and civil war, along with atrocities committed by both the regime and non-state armed groups, have deepened sectarian divisions and exposed the fragile nature of Syrian national...23 Aug Report: Ukraine Willing to “Compromise” on a Non-Ukrainian Internationalized Tribunal
...the Ukrainian side, it is important that after the “Hague Tribunal” is established, it receives the “blessing” of the UN General Assembly , approval of its action by a separate decision. And if, say, 100 states support the work of such a court and its tasks, then this body will de facto become international. Much of the discussion to date, whether about an international or internationalized tribunal, has been based on the idea that a tribunal would be created by UN/Ukraine agreement following UNGA endorsement, along the lines of the...
17 Dec The Trump Administration’s Subversion of the State Department’s Human Rights Reporting (Part 2)
...issues were all absent or greatly reduced this year. Across the 2024 country reports, these once-standard topics were essentially collapsed into a few lines under the general “Security of the Person” heading and stripped of any real analysis. The gutting of these central categories of rights violations is of course deeply concerning—but even more troubling are the issues the Trump administration has chosen to elevate instead. Second, the focus has shifted to political priorities of the Trump administration, such as violence against white Afrikaners in South Africa and antisemitism. One...14 Apr Our Tax Dollars at Work
...order to drain the ink supply in company fax machines, inundating computers with e-mails causing them to crash, and tying up company phone lines to prevent legitimate calls. We can only pray that al-Qaida hasn’t obtained a copy of the Assessment. Should it ever decide to take a page from the eco-terrorists’ playbook — repurposing the cellphones it now knows we’re monitoring to prank call the Pentagon, for example — the damage to our national security could be incalculable. Keep up the good work, DHS! A weary nation thanks you...17 Apr Jennifer Trahan’s Cambodia Problem
...the possibility of the appointment of a group of experts to evaluate the existing evidence and propose further measures, as a means of bringing about national reconciliation, strengthening democracy and addressing the issue of individual accountability.” The group of experts recommended the UN create an ad hoc tribunal along the lines of the ICTY and ICTR, but Cambodia favoured a more internationalized tribunal based in its own judicial system. Cambodia thus asked the UN to help it draft legislation for such a tribunal. In response, “the Secretary-General entered into negotiations...
12 Mar By Practioners, For Practitioner: ABA’s ICL Best Practice Project Publishes Guidance on Judgment Drafting
...often measured by how effective and efficient prosecution authorities are. Yet, much more attention should be placed on the judiciary along these same lines. How well judges, and most importantly, chamber staff perform is another critical component in measuring just how successful international criminal processes are. Putting aside the substance of judgments (which often engenders heated debates, to say the least), it is commonplace for the timeliness and length of international criminal judgments to be subjected to withering complaints as well. It is not hyperbolic to state that the total...